US: 31.5M Cases - 570.2K Dead - 24.1M Recovered
Worldwide: 133.1M Cases - 2.8M Dead - 107.3M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
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Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 279   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 282
*Red indicates change in total deaths

"Wear the Damn Mask"
Employers can follow Gov. Hogan's example in requiring workers to wear masks.

Last year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) became famous when he made a public service announcement where at the end he looked intently into the camera and said loudly, "Wear the damn mask!" Now it turns out that even where state governments are abandoning mask mandates, employers can still require their workers to wear them.

This is particularly the case for employers because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandated mask wearing in workplaces, and nothing suggests that the federal government is supporting an end to mask mandates. In fact, President Biden has made it clear that he regards mask wearing as such a clear imperative one of his first acts when he was sworn in was to require it for all federal government facilities. ehstoday.com

CDC Recommends Appointing 'Vaccination Ambassadors' in Stores
CDC Recommends Employer Steps to Increase Vaccine Acceptance
Employers should consider appointing "vaccination ambassadors" to make workers more likely to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Ensure certain precautions are in place before appointing vaccination ambassadors, legal experts recommend.

The following measures may increase vaccine acceptance in the workforce, according to the CDC:

- Train interested staff to become COVID-19 vaccination ambassadors who will speak confidently and honestly, relaying personal stories about the vaccine to fellow co-workers and addressing any of their concerns. shrm.org

White House rules out involvement in vaccine passports
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday ruled out the Biden administration playing any role in a vaccine passport system as Republican governors in particular balk at the concept. thehill.com

California aims to fully reopen the economy June 15
The date isn't set in stone. And officials emphasize that getting to the point where California can widely reopen for the first time in more than a year will hinge on two factors: a sufficient vaccine supply to inoculate all those who are eligible and stable and low numbers of people hospitalized with the disease.

June 15 also won't bring a full return to pre-pandemic life. Notably, California's mask mandate will remain in place for the foreseeable future. latimes.com

U.K. to Ease Lockdown as Covid-19 Vaccination Campaign Turns the Tide
Prime minister says some restrictions will be relaxed starting next week and country is on course to fully reopen the economy by summer.

After months of lockdown and a speedy vaccination campaign turned back a deadly tide of infection.

France imposed a new nationwide lockdown last week, while in Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing powerful regional governments to implement tougher measures curb infections. wsj.com

UK Loses 190,000 Retail Jobs & 15,153 Stores Closed Since 1st March
2020 COVID Lockdown
The Centre for Retail Research revealed in exclusive data for the Press Association news agency that 188,685 retail jobs have gone between the start of the first lockdown on 23 March 2020 and 31 March this year.

The figures come a little over a week before non-essential shops reopen in England on 12 April, after the lengthy third lockdown.

The devastating impact of the pandemic resulted in 15,153 store closures in shopping destinations across the UK, the figures also revealed.

According to the real estate adviser Altus Group, up to 401,690 shops are shuttered around the country and could reopen in the next stage of the prime minister's roadmap out of lockdown this month. theguardian.com

Rebuilding Social & Emotional Connections With Returning Workers is Key
Many workplaces expect to reopen in Q3 2021, Gartner says
Nearly half of 258 HR leaders polled by Gartner in a recent survey said they expect their workplaces to reopen in Q3 2021, and about one-quarter said their workplaces are aiming for Q4 2021. Separately, nearly half of 227 leaders said they will not track the vaccination status of their employees, according the March 25 results.

Many said they will plan for a hybrid workforce; 59% of 241 leaders surveyed said they will let workers work remotely occasionally with manager approval, a 21 percentage point increase since November 2020.

Only 1% of HR leaders surveyed said they expect all of their workers to work-full time in the office, Brian Kropp, chief of research for the Gartner HR practice, said in a statement. "When offices reopen, many individuals will have been working from home for nearly two years or more and new ways of working will be engrained," he added. "It will be critical for employers to focus on building social and emotional connections with, and between, their employees again."

Hybrid work will factor heavily into planning for 2021 and beyond, Gartner said in a January report, and may include employers deciding "what their corporate offices can offer employees that other spaces cannot." hrdive.com

Some Good Stuff Came Out of the Pandemic
Peer-Pressure & Setting Boundaries Once it's Over

Can we keep positive changes we made during the pandemic?
COVID forced us to change the way we live our lives: It shifted where and how we spent our time and money. In the process, we adopted all sorts of habits and practices. We've taken up new hobbies, incorporated more self-care, or are spending more time outdoors. We're conducting appointments online and ordering groceries. Many of us are working, and working out, at home.

While some of us can't wait to get dressed up again, or cram our schedules with activities, others have discovered that they would prefer to continue the routines that the pandemic helped them establish - whether that's holding nightly family dinners, embracing a less hectic social life or forgoing makeup. Maintaining these changes, however, could be surprisingly difficult.  startribune.com

Top Story in Dallas News Last Week
They spent a year on the front lines of the pandemic. Now these Dallas retail workers are getting the vaccine
Dallas County's health department and Parkland Health & Hospital System are allocating thousands of doses to Kroger, Tom Thumb and Target stores.

Beginning last week, the health department and hospital are directly allocating nearly 10,000 doses to the stores to vaccinate workers who are also Dallas County residents. dallasnews.com

Managers are burnt out after difficult year, LinkedIn report says
While managers are key to the "people-first" future, 2020 tested many of their limits; manager burnout rose 78% between Q1 and Q4 of 2020, according to the 2021 State of the Manager report from Glint and LinkedIn.

The importance of people-oriented managers can be seen across an organization, LinkedIn said. Employees who find their manager "inspirational" are two-times more likely to feel optimistic about work in 2021 compared to those who don't, and those who recommend their manager are two-times more likely to believe their company has "a great culture." hrdive.com

JPMorgan Won't Go Remote After the Pandemic - Hybrid Coming

Ikea Attorney Blames Security Executive For 'System of Espionage'
Prosecutor Wants Prison Time for Two Exec's + $2M

A 'System of Espionage' Reigned at Ikea, a French Prosecutor Charges

In a case riveting national attention, Ikea France is charged with violating privacy rights by surveilling unions, employees and customers.

The USB stick mysteriously appeared from an unidentified deliveryman. It held an explosive trove: a cache of startling emails detailing an intricate effort by Ikea executives in France to dig up information on employees, job applicants and even customers.

"Tell me if these people are known to the police," read one executive's message to a private investigator, seeking illicit background checks on hundreds of Ikea job applicants.

"A model worker has become a radical employee representative overnight," read another. "We need to find out why."

A decade after those emails surfaced, they are at the center of a criminal trial that has riveted public attention in France. Prosecutors are accusing the French arm of Ikea, the Swedish home furnishings giant, and some of its former executives of engineering a "system of espionage" from 2009 to 2012.

Continue reading

Alarmed by recent mass shootings, California lawmakers push to tax guns
and ammo
Citing recent mass shootings in Orange, Boulder, Colo., and the Atlanta area, state lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a proposal for a new tax on the sale of guns and ammunition in California to boost funding for violence prevention programs.

The legislation by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) would place a $25 excise tax on retailers for the sale of each new gun and an as-yet-undetermined levy on ammo sales to raise millions of dollars to fund the efforts.

"Gun violence will not end on its own," Levine told the Assembly Public Safety Committee during a hearing Tuesday. "We must take responsible action to end the public health crisis that is gun violence in our state, in our nation."

The panel voted 5 to 2 along party lines to approve the legislation, which still needs approval from the full Assembly. Levine said that in just the first three months of this year there were more than 100 mass shootings in the United States.

Nationwide, Americans purchased a record 21 million firearms last year, according to Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting, a research firm that tracks firearms. Levine proposes that the money raised by the new taxes go to expanding the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program, which gives money to cities and community-based organizations working to reduce shootings in high-crime areas, including those that are home to street gangs.

The state allocated $30 million for the program in 2019. The new gun tax alone could generate an additional $13 million annually based on estimates for a similar proposal in 2019 that did not reach the governor. latimes.com

Zoom Meetings Are Here to Stay: Can We Beat the Fatigue?
Published by Warton University of Pennsylvania

CEO Bans Zoom Meetings On Fridays - Because Zoom Fatigue is Real & It's Here
The struggle with Zoom fatigue is real. It's so real that Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has banned internal Zoom meetings on Fridays in an effort to combat it.

The blurring of lines between home and work and the relentlessness of the pandemic workday have taken a toll on our well-being," she said in a March company memo. "When our work regularly spills over into nights, very early mornings and weekends, it can prevent us from recharging fully, and that isn't good for you nor, ultimately, for Citi."

Videoconferencing has become invaluable during the pandemic, allowing businesses and organizations to keep going at full speed as employees work from home. But companies like Citigroup are now dealing with the unintended consequence of Zoom fatigue, which scientists describe as the taxing effect that constant videoconferencing has on the body and the brain. Wharton management professor Iwan Barankay said company leaders must improve the culture around video meetings because they are here to stay, regardless of whether employees physically return to the office.

What's wrong with it

Barankay said videoconferencing has replaced personal engagement, which is one of the biggest sources of creativity and innovation in an office setting. With video, there are no chance encounters, casual conversations, or other interactions that can spark ideas. It's also harder for employees to feel connected to each other or to a larger mission when all their conversations are on screen.

Barankay's point is underscored by new research into Zoom fatigue. According to some studies, the core dilemma in videoconferencing is the trade-off between risk and reward. In-person social interactions are associated with reward, affecting the neurological pathways in the brain that boost alertness. But virtual interactions require greater cognitive and physical effort, which can lead to stress.

Barankay called out another inherent problem with video meetings: Workplace hierarchy often means the manager talks while employees passively listen. "When you have a meeting where somebody talks for three minutes and you can't participate, people just switch off," he noted. upenn.edu

Malls Facing a Day of Reckoning
UBS: More than 80K stores likely to close in the next 5 year
With e-commerce up dramatically, some 80,000 - and as many as 150,000 - U.S. stores could close over the next five years, according to a report from UBS analysts led by Michael Lasser and Jay Sole. They expect apparel, consumer electronics and furniture stores to be hard hit and home improvement and grocery stores to be largely spared.

While online sales accelerated to 18% of retail last year, up from 14% in 2019, the number of closures fell to 3,500 from 3,900, thanks to the government's financial support to consumers and as less spending went to services. Consumption of goods grew 6% even as total personal expenditures declined, according to the report. "However, we think those trends are temporary," analysts said

With excess space before the pandemic, and their specialty tenant and anchor bases under pressure, malls face a reckoning. Department store sales fell 18% last year and are down 43% since before the Great Recession, UBS said. Despite many closures in the sector, including at Sears, Macy's, Bon-Ton and J.C. Penney, more are likely, they said.

In their report, UBS analysts said they assume that e-commerce penetration will reach 27% in 2026, up from 18% last year.

That's changing the landscape, literally: By UBS's measure, Amazon last year grew its U.S. fulfillment space by some 100 million square feet; that plus Wayfair's fulfillment expansion reached the equivalent of 21,000 retail stores. retaildive.com

NRF's 2021 Top 50 Global Retailers